I got stuck in traffic dear... for 22 hours!

How Scottish drivers lose a day a year due to jams

‘Staggering cost of congestion’

GRIDLOCKED Scots l ost nearly a day of their lives stuck in traffic jams last year, costing the Scottish economy an estimated £2.4billion, a damning report reveals today.

Aberdeen emerged as the country’s congestion capital, f ollowed by Edinburgh and Glasgow – with the three cities together accounting for an economic hit of £582million.

On average motorists spent 22 hours last year stuck in jams – nearly three working days of wasted time, at an average cost of £716 per driver.

But that soared to 35 hours in Aberdeen – which is also the third most congested city across t he UK af t er London and Manchester.

The cost to Aberdeen motorists averaged £1,331 per driver and £138million to the local economy.

Edinburgh was the UK’s fifth most congested city, behind Birmingham, with drivers wasting 31 hours in jams last year at an average cost per driver of £1,009 – £225million in total. In Glasgow – the UK’s 11th most congested city – drivers wasted 27 hours in jams – costing £766 each and a total hit of £219million to the city.

The rising cost of gridlock is revealed today in a major report by traffic specialist INRIX, which monitors traffic flows globally and provides real-time information for millions of sat-navs worldwide.

Its new Traffic Scorecard analysed traffic flows across 87 cities and large urban areas in the UK, 628 in Europe and 1,064 cities across 38 countries worldwide.

The report notes: ‘The combined cost of congestion to all three major Scottish cities amounted to £ 582million l ast year, while congestion across Scotland cost drivers an estimated £2.4billion.’

Scotland’s three most congested roads are in Glasgow, headed by the A82 in both directions between St George’s Cross and Anniesland. Drivers there suffered 40 hours of delays last year as speeds fell to 15.11mph during morning rush-hour and 12.7mph in the evening. Glasgow and Edinburgh each hold five of the top ten slots for the most congested roads.

Across the UK, Britons lost 32 hours to traffic last year at a cost of £968 to each driver and more than £30billion to the economy.

The UK i s the third most congested country in Europe, the fourth most gridlocked developed country – after Russia, the US and Turkey – and 11th overall.

The INRIX report states: ‘Aberdeen eclipses even London at peak hours and was the hardest city to get in to or out of with drivers stuck in gridlock 24 per cent of the time. Irvine, Falkirk, Bathgate, Stirling, Kilmarnock and Dunfermline all had average congestion levels of 4 per cent or less in 2016 – the UK’s lowest.’

Graham Cookson, chief economist at INRIX, said: ‘The cost of this congestion is staggering.

‘To tackle this, we must consider bold options such as remote working, wider use of road user charging and investment in big data to create more effective and intelligent transportation systems.’